South East Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN)

Established in 2011 with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the

Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN) is a consortium of 10 founding universities and

14 faculties in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam that are collaborating to build One Health capacity and academic partnerships with government, national, and regional stakeholders in the Southeast Asia region. SEAOHUN’s vision is to empower a regional network of social and intellectual excellence on One health working to reduce infectious and zoonotic diseases. SEAOHUN’s mission is to link and empower a regional network of academic partnerships with government, national and regional stakeholders in Southeast Asia to generate social and intellectual capital on One Health against infectious and zoonotic diseases.

In 2012, the SEAOHUN agreed to establish a foundation to support and assure the long-term sustainability of the Network. SEAOHUN officially registered as a Foundation in Thailand in August 2014 with two governing Boards and its secretariat office located at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. The Executive Board comprises of 10 members – one from each founding university. The Foundation Board comprises of 4 members – one from each founding country. The Foundation Board oversees and fulfills the Secretariat’s legal status and requirements in Thailand.

SEAOHUN works to enhance the student experience by facilitating teaching and learning of One Health approaches to prevent and address outbreaks of zoonotic and emerging infectious diseases. SEAOHUN’s key function is to encourage and facilitate collaborative activities and projects among network members with an emphasis on trans-disciplinary and trans-boundary partnerships. Programming includes, but is not limited to, supporting student and staff exchange, curriculum development, strengthening and developing teaching methodologies, and developing research capacity building and innovative projects that provide evidence-based One Health data and outcomes for advocacy with government and other collaborating partner agencies.

SEAOHUN collaborates with each country network to enhance capacity of the current and future workforce in using One Health approaches to prevent, detect and respond to zoonotic and emerging infectious disease threats. The four One Health University networks (OHUNs) are 1) Indonesia One Health University Network (INDOHUN), 2) Malaysia One Health University Network (MyOHUN), 3) Thailand One Health University Network (THOHUN), and 4) Vietnam One Health University Network (VOHUN). Each county network has a National Coordinating Office (NCO) and Project Management Unit based in its country with its own governance and operating structure. Currently, SEAOHUN consists of 67 universities,

120 faculties and government agencies from the four-member countries.

SEAOHUN has successfully implemented its mission throughout the past 7 years and has recently begun to expand its operation within the Southeast Asia region (i.e., Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar) with a goal to be one of the ASEAN partners to implement the ASEAN Post 2015 Health Development Agenda. In addition, SEAOHUN has also begun to seek additional donor and partner support to enable its continued geographic and programmatic expansion. In 2018, a consultant company was hired to analyze and provide recommendations to address a number of structural and governance inefficiencies of SEAOHUN, the regional network. Consequently, two Boards were streamlined into one with 10 founding members plus

country network Coordinators and key partners (USAID, University of Minnesota, and Tufts University). The new Board discussed that it would welcome additional member SEA countries in late 2019. Since the establishment of SEAOHUN, there is no formal strategic plan developed besides setting four strategic objectives for the network – a) social and policy advocacy, b) knowledge generation, management and sharing, c) capacity building, and d) strengthening organization structure.